


I simply cannot get enough

by betsib, sandorizu



Series: Nothing is whole [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 02:24:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1101263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betsib/pseuds/betsib, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandorizu/pseuds/sandorizu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mission to gather information concerning a strategy against the thirteen Xehanorts Riku, Lea and Sora find themselves on a trip to Halloween Town and beyond. Obligatory christmas addition to the Nothing is whole story!</p>
            </blockquote>





	I simply cannot get enough

“On a scale of one to ten, what are the chances of this plan actually working?” Lea asked as they got closer to Halloween town. He was sitting practically in Riku’s lap, for no particular reason. 

“That’s what we’re trying to find out. And get off me.”Riku said, making a half hearted attempt to push him off. Public displays of affection still embarrassed him. Not that they were in public, exactly but… Riku glanced over at Sora, who grinned at him briefly before turning his attention back to steering the ship.

“I’m just saying, asking a mad scientist for help doesn’t seem like a very good idea.” Lea said, stubbornly remaining where he was.

“Dr. Finklestein almost managed to make a heart once.” Sora said. “He’ll know whether the plan is doable or not.”

“‘ _Almost_ managed to make a heart. _Almost._ ” Lea muttered. “That’s reliable.”

“It’s not like any of us had any better ideas.” Riku said, giving up his attempts to get rid of the grown man in his lap. ”You included. Besides, I thought you wanted to get away from the tower for a while.”

“This wasn’t really what I had in mind.” Lea muttered, giving Riku a meaningful look. Riku ignored it.

“After that incident with Yen Sid’s spell book you should be happy you’re allowed to go anywhere at all.” he said strictly. Sora stared laughing in the seat beside him.

“It was amazing!” Sora said. “With the chairs starting to sing and...”

“It was an accident.” Lea pouted. “And anyway, it wasn’t funny.”

“You’re just saying that because the mirror stated giving you fashion tips.” Riku said, joining Sora in laughter. Lea made a face at them.

“I hate you guys. And I still don’t think this plan will work.”

“Maybe not.” Sora agreed. “But it will be fun to see Jack and the others anyway.”

They landed a while later outside the Guillotine gate of Halloween town. Their clothes changed as the got off the gummi ship, becoming darker and more in tune with the rest of the world. While Riku had experienced similar transformations before, Lea hadn't, and it was quite the surprise to find his coat turned a dark grey. Not to mention the tacky skullnecklace.

"Well that's an improvement", Riku couldn't help commenting with a shrug in the direction of Lea's hair. He expected a snarky retort, or even something being lit on fire.

"I like normal you better."

Well. He didn't expect that. Somewhere behind him Sora giggled. _Giggled_.

Riku refused to acknowledge the fact that he was blushing furiously. Insead he looked around town, at anything but his two companions. He noticed a very tall skeleton standing by the most hideous fountain Riku had ever seen. 

“Hmm...” the skeleton said, apparently to himself. “It’s not right. Too liquid. It should be more...shadowy.”

“Jack!” Sora exclaimed happily, running towards the skeleton and greeting him like an old friend. Riku and Lea exchanged a bemused look. Sora’s strange friendships was an old topic by now.

“Happy halloween, Sora.” Jack said, smiling at him, then turning towards Riku and Lea. “And you brought some new friends. Do any of you know how to make this fountain produce shadows instead of water?”

Riku shook his head, wondering how it was even possible to classify the dark green liquid coming out of the fountain as “water.” Shadows might actually be more appealing.

“Sorry, Jack. I don’t think so.” Sora said, with a tone that suggested this wasn’t the weirdest thing he’d heard Jack say. “We need to go see Dr. Finkelstein about something. You know if he’s home?”

“Certainly. I was just on my way there myself. I need to talk to Sally about costumes. I have this incredible idea...”

He went on to talk about cat ears and bat wings and something that sounded suspiciously like “hag’s warts” and Riku decided he didn’t want to know anymore. He glanced at Lea, who noticed him looking and grinned. He grabbed a hold of Riku’s hand as they walked, and Riku tried his best not to blush again. He probably failed. 

The skeleton stopped outside a wooden door. It looked rather plain and unremarkable compared to the rest of the town, despite the pumpkin lantern beside it. If Riku had been alone he would probably have walked right past it. Behind it was a short staircase, leading to another, more interesting looking, door.

Jack didn’t knock or ring the doorbell, he just walked right in. They followed him, and Riku looked around the spacious, steel plate coated lab. He tightened his grip on Lea’s hand when he noticed the fragile looking glass equipment on the other side of the room, and the levers attached to it.

“I’m not going to break anything, you know.” Lea pouted, apparently reading Riku’s thoughts. He felt a bit guilty, but kept a hold of Lea’s hand nonetheless. Lea didn’t seem to mind.

A strange man looking rather like a white duck with glasses rolled in in a wheelchair. “What are all of you doing in my lab?” he asked.

“Dr. Finkelstein, we need your help.” Sora said walking up to the strange man, who promptly lifted the top half of his head, scratching the visible brain beneath it. Riku felt a bit sick at the sight, but Sora didn’t bat an eyelid.

“Ah.. You need my vast intellect.” the doctor said, smiling creepily. “Well, well. What can I help you with?”

“Is Sally around?” Jack asked, casing an disgruntled expression on Dr. Finkelstein’s face as he gestured towards the door in the back of the lab. Jack disappeared through it with a “see you later.”

“It’s kind of a theory we have.” Sora said as the doctor turned towards him again. “We need to know if something is possible. Ehm… Riku can explain.”

Riku gave Sora an irritated look, but he had sort of expected this. Of the three of them he did have the clearest understanding of the idea, though he didn’t fully understand it. It was something that had come up during brainstorming sessions in the tower, a theory Kairi had read about, Aqua had heard about, Yen Sid vaguely remembered and the rest of them were struggling to get their head around. Of course Riku got stuck trying to explain it.

“Well, it’s like this: we need to fight thirteen pieces of darkness with seven pieces of light.” he started. “Which isn’t the best odds. And some of the pieces of darkness were originally friends of ours. So we have this theory, that if we can collect seven pieces of darkness and thirteen of light, actual pieces and not people, then it would balance the whole thing out. Cancel all the light and darkness within the people, and they’d be able to come back. Or something.”

“Right.” Sora nodded. “Is it possible to collect the pieces? Would it work?”

The doctor was quiet for a while, apparently thinking it over. Riku wasn’t sure he had understood the explanation. Riku wasn’t sure he had understood the explanation himself, either. Somehow he’d only managed to confuse himself more.

“Well, light and dark is not all that complicated.” Dr. Finkelstein finally said, scratching his brain again. “The piece would have to be a concrete object, something of enormous emotional value, dark or light. If you manage to collect a matching number of pieces...Hmm. Yes. I think it could work, depending of course on the strength of the darkness holding these friends of yours.”

“Great! What would a piece look like, exactly?” Sora asked.

“Oh, it could be anything, really. The emotional value is what counts.” the doctor said. “But it must be freely given to you, or the emotions are meaningless. People are so strangely sentimental. Even with my vast intellect, I’ve never understood it.”

“So how will we recognise an object like that?” Lea asked, but the doctor had no answer for them. He only got irritated by their unscientific emotions, and they soon left the lab.

“Do we know someone else we can ask about this?” Riku said when they were out on the street again. Lea scoffed.

“What, an expert on object’s of emotional value? Sure, there are plenty of people like that.” he said. Riku gave him an irritated look, but Sora smiled triumphantly.

“I know someone!” he exclaimed happily. “Come on, let’s go see Santa!”

Both Riku and Lea were quiet for a moment before Riku muttered a “You can’t be serious” right before Lea started laughing loudly, covering his eyes with his hand as his head dropped backwards. Riku almost forgot what Sora had said, eyes caught on Lea.

“I feel like I should be surprised but--” Lea exclaimed between laughs. “I just can’t be.”

Riku turned to look at Sora, who was grinning widely, like he’d enjoyed getting to say that a lot. But also so honestly Riku knew he wasn’t kidding. Well, Sora never was, was he? 

“Well, off we go?” he said, grabbing the still giggling Lea’s hand but not realising he’d done so until Lea suddenly stopped giggling and squeezed his hand. _Oh right._

Sora led them out from the square through a not very welcoming gate. The fact that it led into a graveyard really didn’t make things any better, but Sora didn’t seem to react to their surroundings at all. He just went straight ahead past an open coffin and up another flight of stairs. .

“What’s with that open coffin.” Lea muttered beside Riku. “It’s a doorway that leads towards Spiral Hill”, Sora replied. “A doorway.” Lea repeated.

“Don’t worry, we’re going through here”, Sora laughed.

“Good. I didn’t die twice without ending up in a coffin just to have to get into one while alive.”

Riku snorted and smiled. “Whatever, let’s just go.” He pulled Lea along up the stairs after Sora. As they walked along the road that continued from the stairs the ended up in a forest. Right in the middle stood a tree with a brightly coloured image of a christmas tree. It stuck out like a sore thumb in the otherwise monochrome landscape. Once they got closer Riku could see that it was actually a door. 

“Okay! Here we go. This door leads to Christmas Town!” Sora said with another grin. “I love this place” he added and opened the door. Through they went and suddenly Riku could feel himself falling. Before he had the time to panic he landed in a huge pile of snow. And then Lea landed right on top of him. Riku groaned. Lea might be skinny, but he was heavy when basically crashing down on Riku.

Lea rolled off him with a groan, very similar to RIku’s just moments before, and sat up in the snow. Riku followed suit, not sure if he should be annoyed at the cold, wet mess everywhere or be thankful it had softened their fall into this world. 

Sora had of course been ready for it and was already standing to the side grinning at them. His Halloween Town look had suddenly changed into some weird mix of halloween and christmas. Riku wasn’t sure he wanted to know what he, himself was wearing. He turned around to look at Lea.

And started laughing. Lea’s hair had been shaped into a cone-like shape and at the end a white ball was dinging. _His hair was a christmas hat._ The laughs were inevitable.

Lea protested for a while, but in the end a quick kiss was all it took to get him quiet and all three of them headed down the hill. Sora seemed to know where they were going. Riku hoped wherever that was, was inside. Snow and cold wasn’t really the best weather for sleeveless vests (despite it suddenly having furry edges).

As soon as they were out of the snow pile Sora led them to a large red building, decorated with small lights over every window. Riku would have expected the door to lead into some big fancy room, but instead he found a small cozy office with a fireplace blazing in a corner. Even after just a few minutes in the cold the warmth of the room was more than welcome. A round man dressed in red was standing by the fireplace, gesticulating wildly with his tiny arms as he talked to some elves half his size. Santa Claus didn’t look happy.

“Merry Christmas, Santa. Is something wrong?” Sora asked as they approached. Santa turned around to look at them, still aggravated.

“Something wrong? Something is very wrong.” Santa said. “It’s only a few days left until Christmas, and my Naughty and Nice-lists are missing! Somebody must have taken them.”

“Why would anyone want those lists?” Riku asked, slightly confused.

“I don’t know, but when I find whoever did it, they will be permanently on the Naughty-list, you can be sure of that.” Santa said. “Without those lists I can’t bring the children any presents this year.” His tone did indeed suggest that causing a presentless christmas wasn’t a good idea.

Sora looked horrified at the prospect. “We’ll help you find the lists.” he said determinedly. Riku sighed and Lea rolled his eyes, but there was no backing out of it now, even though they really had more important things to take care of. Besides, Santa Claus was nodding approvingly.

“I’m counting on you.” he said, and they exited his house. Riku really envied Lea and Sora their long sleeves as they stepped into the cold again.

“And you said he wasn’t real.” Sora told Riku accusingly. Riku snorted.

“Sora, I told you that about a lot of things.” he smiled. “Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, monsters, shrimp… you believed me every time.”

Sora blushed slightly as Lea started laughing. “Anyway, I think Lock, Shock and Barrel are our best bet. They’ve stolen stuff before.”

“Back to Halloween Town then?” Riku asked hopefully, and Sora nodded. They quickly made their way back up the hill and through the door. After all the blindingly bright snow, Halloween Town seemed almost pitch black, and for a moment Riku almost thought he was back in the World of Darkness. Then his eyes adjusted and he could see the trees.

Sora led them all over Halloween Town, jumping through strange doors and even coffins (Much to Lea’s dismay, nor that Riku particularly liked it either) but they found no trace of the children they were looking for. Anywhere. As they made their way back towards the town square again they saw Jack talking to a woman with stitches all over her body. Riku assumed this was the Sally he’d been asking about earlier.

“Sora!” she smiled when she saw them. “Who are your friends?”

“Hi, Sally. This is Riku and Lea.” Sora introduced them. “Have you seen Lock, Shock and Barrel around somewhere? We can’t find them.”

“Oh, dear. Are they up to something again?” Sally asked. “I think I saw them heading for the Hinterlands this morning, but I haven’t seen them since.”

“Maybe they’re still in Christmas Town.” Lea suggested, and Riku groaned inwardly as Sora nodded. He really wasn’t looking forward to running around aimlessly in the snow trying to find the little thieves. 

“Maybe I should come with you? You know, to help.” Jack said, sounding a bit too excited about it. Sora and Sally looked equally uncomfortable.

“It’s okay, Jack. We can handle it.” Sora said. ”I’d appreciate it if you would lend us Zero, though.”

“Okay. I understand.” Jack said, sounding deflated. “But you’ll tell Sandy Claws I helped, right?”

Sora promised they would, and they followed Jack back to the graveyard. Riku and Lea exchanged a look on the way. Since when did Sora decline anyone’s help? They had apparently missed something. 

Both of them jumped as a white ghost dog suddenly appeared out of a grave. Sora laughed at them and Jack seemed rather pleased about their reaction as well. He bent down to pet the dog called Zero and asked him to lead the way to Lock, Shock and Barrel. As expected, Zero went straight for the hinterlands and the door to Christmas Town.

Jack didn’t seem too happy about being left on the other side, but Sally grabbed his hand and started dragging him away as the rest of them went through the door once again landing in a pile of snow. Riku shivered as the cold hit him again and Lea looked at him with concern.

“Do you want my coat?” Lea asked.

“Are you wearing anything beneath it?” 

“Not really, no.” Lea said, smiling sheepishly, and Riku rolled his eyes.

“Then no.” he said. “I’ll be fine. Let’s get this over with.”

They followed Zero’s glowing nose past the houses and Santa Claus’ mansion and over a frozen lake. The ice made uncomfortable cracking noises beneath their feet, but they made it to the other side without incident. There was a small forest of glittering white trees in front of them. If he hadn’t been so cold Riku would have found it beautiful. Probably even romantic.

As if reading Riku’s thoughts Lea put an arm around his shoulders as they walked into the forest. Riku was thankful for the warmth, even though it was a bit embarrassing. He blushed as Sora grinned at them.

As they moved forward through the forest they started to hear voices from afar. It sounded like someone was having a loud argument.

“...my name first!” a girl’s voice said. “Erase it!”

“I can’t find your name.” a boy answered. “Do you spell it with one or two ‘t’s?”

“There are no ‘t’s in my name, idiot!” she yelled. “Give me the other list, I’ll write it in.”

“You can’t be on both lists!”

Riku, Sora and Lea walked closer, unnoticed by the arguing children. They found Lock, Shock and Barrel in a small cave by a frozen river, fighting over two long paper scrolls.

“You know, stealing is wrong.” Sora said, and the children jumped and screamed in surprise.

“It’s him!” the smallest boy exclaimed, pointing at Sora. “Run!”

They scattered in three different directions, but thanks to the cave their options were limited. They easily caught two of them, but the boy in the devil costume got out and sprinted away through the forest. Of course he had one of the lists.

“I’m on it!” Lea yelled, running off after the kid right away. Zero followed them, so Riku didn’t doubt he’d catch him sooner or later. Instead he turned his attention back to the other two.

“Give me the list.” he said, and the smaller boy reluctantly handed it over.

“No fair!” the girl whined. “We stole it first! Find your own list to put your name on!”

“So you’re saying you stole the lists just to put yourselves on the Nice-list?” Sora asked, and the girl made a face at him.

“Otherwise we won’t get any presents.” the boy said. “We were going to return them afterwards.”

“Promise you won’t do it again and we won’t tell Santa you stole the lists.” Sora said. “Then try to be nice, and maybe you’ll get presents next year.”

Riku smiled at Sora’s attempt to sound stern. The children didn’t seem too impressed either.

“Nice for a whole year, pah.” the girl muttered. “Let’s go back to Halloween Town. I’m cold.”

The children ran off, and Riku and Sora followed at a slower pace, list in hand, keeping an eye out for Lea on the way. He met them by the lake, dripping wet and shivering.

“That little bastard!” Lea exclaimed before Riku had a chance to say anything. “I got the list, but he got away from me anyway. After I’d saved his life and everything.”

He handed the wet, ice cold Naughty-list to Riku without another word and then summoned some small fires in both his hands to warm himself a bit. His lips were turning a not very promising shade of blue.

“Come on, let’s hurry back.” Sora said. They walked as fast as they could across the frozen lake and back to Santa’s house. Riku kept glancing worriedly at Lea the whole time. He would have liked to help warm him up somehow, but he was shivering himself. There was nothing else to do than hurry up. When they finally did make it inside the sudden warmth almost came as a shock.

“You’re back. Thank goodness.” Santa said when he saw them. He raised an eyebrow at the stiff, frozen Naughty-list, but quickly ordered his elves to bring some dry clothes and blankets for Lea without even asking what had happened.

Riku helped Lea out of his wet coat and into the warm clothes the elves brought back within a couple of minutes. Seeing Lea dressed as an oversized elf would have been funny under different circumstances. As it was, he simply sat down beside Lea by the fireplace and threw a thick blanket around both of them. Another elf brought them hot chocolate, and Riku was finally starting to feel warm again. He hoped Lea did too. Sora ran off with Santa to check up on the workshop almost right away. He seemed very excited about the whole thing.

“How are you feeling?” Riku asked Lea when they were alone. Lea attempted to snort, but it came out more of a sniff.

“Like I’ve fallen into an icy lake.” he said. “Well, I jumped. The kid was in trouble. Ungrateful bastard.”

“It comes with being a hero.” Riku said, nudging Lea slightly. He felt proud. Lea smiled.

“I want to resign. Where do I turn in my resignation letter?” he said, leaning heavily against Riku and putting his head down on his shoulder. “No more worlds with snow and ice, ok?”

“Agreed.” Riku said, reaching out to put his arm around Lea’s shoulders. “I hope Santa can help us with our mission.”

Lea didn’t answer. He was looking at something above them with a grin on his face.

“Mistletoe.” Lea said. “So who do you think Santa is kissing? His elves?”

“Now that’s a disturbing thought. I think he has a wife.” RIku said. “And either way...” He leaned in and planted a firm kiss on Lea’s lips.

“That’s it?” Lea pouted when they parted. “Mistletoe is over advertised.” Riku rolled his eyes, but didn’t complain as their lips met again. They didn’t part until the door opened a few minutes later. Riku turned around to see Santa smiling at them, and Sora standing behind him, giggling. 

“By all means, continue.” When they both shook their heads Santa continued. “Sora has filled me in on the situation.”he said, sitting down in the armchair by the window. “And I think I can give you a few tips.”

“Anything would help.” Riku said. “We really don’t know what we’re looking for here.”

Santa nodded thoughtfully. “What you want is to find objects of great emotional value, good or bad. The best thing would be to find something that’s personal or has a strong connection to the people you’re trying to defeat, but as I understand it it’s not always an option.”  
He looked around for confirmation, and Riku nodded. Santa continued: “It would probably also help to find objects from as many different worlds as possible. However, obtaining these objects will not be easy. People do not often part with the things most important to them.”

“Right. How can we recognize objects like this?” Riku asked, and Santa shrugged.

“Truthfully, these objects can take any form, as small as a needle or as big as a house. You’ll be able to tell by the feeling that surround it. Loved or hated objects will radiate the feeling given to them. In some cases, the feelings may even be visible.”

 

They stayed in Santa’s house for a few more hours enjoying hot chocolate and tarts before heading back to the ship. All of them were pretty quiet the whole time though, thinking about what Santa had said. Riku was worried. The plan could work, but how were they supposed to get someone to just hand them something so precious? 

“So, where to?” Sora asked as he sat down in front of the control panel of the gummi ship. “Any ideas?”

Riku thought about it as he settled next to Lea in the back. “We’re not going to be able to convince complete strangers to hand us their treasures.” he said. “So maybe someplace we already have friends who’d be willing to help us would be best.”

“Sounds good.” Sora said, grinning at the thought of seeing any of his friends again. “Well, we could head to Agrabah. It’s the closest.”

Lea groaned loudly as the gummi ship left the ground and shot into the air.

“Well, at least it won’t be cold.” he muttered.

Riku smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas!   
> As you can se we may have a bit of a continuation of the plot planned out. It felt like leaving it unfinished when Xehanort was still strolling around and there are still so many worlds we want to take Lea and Riku to. Not entirely sure of the shape of the upcoming parts yet but they will all be in this same series.  
> Hopefully you enjoyed this!


End file.
